This new body of work returns primarily to the emblem of the skull as an essential human signifier. Stripping away surface appearances of flesh and form, the skull denotes a universal humanity in its most material essence. Upon this essence metaphysical and esoteric conjectures are projected as a means of considering the human condition. Pop culture inflected aesthetic borrowing heavily from punk and psychedelic rock music is presented as a creative yet dissonant response to a culture of mediated apocalypticism and presents the state of being a perpetual and petulant drawing of light out of darkness.

“The title of this show is the ancient Sumerian name for the opium poppy which means ‘the plant of joy’. Taking as its subject the wider genus papaver rather than just the narcotic producing somniferum, Hul Gil is a study in the dichotomy between abstraction and subject. It is a plant with robust seed that
can seem to take root anywhere yet with such a delicate and fragile flower; producing a substance that can lead to either healing or harm.

Building upon the floral theme found in art historical traditions of still life this series of paintings present and expressive process reflecting on cultural narratives of taboo, repression, redemption, and art as a point of liminalty between the conscious and unconscious. Symbolic as a narcotic of forgetfulness and as an emblem of remembrance, Hul Gil offers the intoxication of the aesthetic experience. ”